What is Ethash?

Ethash is a specialized Proof-of-Work (PoW) hashing algorithm employed by the Ethereum blockchain. Ethash is the newest version of Ethereum's Dagger-Hashimoto mining algorithm, and is characterized as a faster rendition that is application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)-resistant, while at the same time being graphics processing unit (GPU) mining-friendly and light client-friendly (unlike its predecessor). Because Ethash is PoW-based, there is a good chance it will no longer be used once Ethereum Consensus Layer (formerly Ethereum 2.0) launches with its Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus framework.